ANIMUSIC: A Computer Animation Video Album: Special Edition

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All Rise...

Judge Bill Gibron offers a ray-traced review of this CG animation and music mash-up.

The Charge

3-D computer animation at its best!

The Case

Back when Tron was kicking the
ass of every sci-fi geek (yours truly, included) with its combination of live
action and computer-generated visuals, who would have thought that the ability
to render imaginary objects in three dimensions would ever become so popular? Or
easy to duplicate at home? For a while, it seemed the limits of the PC would
prevent your average artists from expressing their passion on more than two axis
planes. Big-time CGI was left to Hollywood and its easy, financially feasible
access to supercomputers with which to formulate its morphing magic. And, with
examples like Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park on its side, who
could argue with leaving the digital interpretation to the experts?

But quietly, behind the scenes, a revolution was brewing. Processing chips
became more powerful. CPUs got faster and more sophisticated. Memory became more
cost-effective and animation programs tested the limits of all these new
developments. Suddenly, desktop effects jockeys were making their own realistic
renditions of real life and creating equally captivating short film features. In
2001 ANIMUSIC, one of the most inventive and ingenious architects of the
synchronicity between the mother/sounding board, released a DVD of its work.
Reconfigured and updated for 2004, ANIMUSIC: A Computer Animation Video
Album: Special Edition dramatically showcases this sensational amalgamation
of art forms.

ANIMUSIC: A Computer Animation Video Album: Special Edition (phew!
that's a mouthful) is the brainchild of animator/musician Wayne Lytle. In 1996,
Lytle created his first combination cartoon, the silly symphony in space
Beyond The Walls. Using a visual style influenced by designs as divergent
as Metropolis and Japanese
anime, the organic mechanical quality of Lytle's imaginative melodic machines
matched the spry, spunky New Age bop crafted to suggest both an acoustic as well
as scientific form of music making.

The way this visual and sonic artistry is prepared is truly amazing. First,
a construct of instrumental groups is conceived. Then a tune is created to
utilize this melodic menagerie (though not always—sometimes the song comes
first). After that, a computer MIDI file (a harmonic program that triggers tones
and tempos in computers and adaptable devices) is created and an animation
program implemented. The images are rendered and given a range of appropriate
motion. With a lot of skill and some manner of karmic convergence, the MIDI file
directs the computer to animate the instruments in the manner in which they've
been programmed to perform. The resulting solo-cam cartoon is then lit,
accented, set within a scenic backdrop, and filmed by constantly moving virtual
cameras to create the mesmerizing music videos featured here. All this effort
creates something truly special—a combination of technology and natural
elements that coalesce into a miraculous, always amazing visual and audio treat.
The short films offered represent a wide range of ideas and references.
Individually, these mini-movies characterize the following feelings and
thoughts:

• "Future Retro": Lasers and science fiction-inspired
instruments, including a strange triple-necked guitar, play an ethereal anthem
to the days of future past. • "Stick Figures": Like a
set of funky sidemen, these bass and guitar automatons play a perky, peppy set
of plucked and strummed perfection. • "Aqua Harp":
Sitting in a beautiful pool of cascading water, a stringed sculpture forges a
lovely liquid lullaby. • "Drum Machine": Amid a
complex of gears and cogs, a set of drums keeps a warm warpath beat of varying
cadences and polyrhythms. • "Pipe Dreams": Using
steel balls to trigger its tones, this weird organ/string combination provides a
hypnotic hymn to precision. • "Acoustic Curves":
Digital dulcimers and mechanical autoharps strum and pick a plaintive tune, full
of brittle bittersweetness. • "Harmonic Voltage": On
an alien landscape, a laser tower chimes out its musical message as the
surrounding beacons provide the deep space substrata.

This is fabulous stuff, evocative and ethereal while also being playful and
fun. Many of the incredibly innovative ideas floating around in this
computer-generated world are mind-bending. Especially magical is the metal
ball-triggered stringed conduit instrument at the center of "Pipe
Dream." It combines the fanciful with the realistic in such a way that you
half expect someone could actually build such a device. Equally suggestive of
something pragmatic—if only in a far-off distant world—the laser
light theremin of "Harmonic Voltage" proposes a perfect combination of
design with implementation. Both "Acoustic Curves" and "Stick
Figures" find the right notes, both sonically and scientifically, to evoke
their combination of old and new world whimsy. "Aqua Harp" is simple
and seductive. Actually, there is only one really redundant piece here, and it's
the solo excuse for chaos called "Drum Machine." Sure, from a purely
technical standpoint, the machinery machinations are incredibly involving. But
the drone-like beat of the synth-pad pounding quickly overstays its welcome.
Thankfully, everything else resembles the tireless efforts of the opening track,
"Future Retro." It exemplifies everything exceptional about this DVD
presentation: good music, fantastic visuals and a real flair for the anatomy of
gadgetry. For a homemade project, the CGI here puts many Hollywood hokums to
shame.

Originally released as a now out-of-print title in 2001, this example of
digital creation really challenges any distributor assigned to capturing its
carnival of creativity onto DVD. Fortunately, Goldhil Home Media steps up and
delivers a delicious, detailed disc filled with gorgeous visuals, amazing aural
aspects, and an unrealistic amount of bonus features. Each individual segment
here has a commentary track, a chance to walk through the production process
(with dozens of sketches and stills), multi-angle Solo-cams—allowing you
to look at the apparatus at play from any vantage point offered—and a nice
bit of time-lapse rendering where the entire "instrument" is created
and shaded before your eyes. There is also a 16x9 presentation of "Pipe
Dream" that really expands the understanding of the animation art. The
widescreen images show all the components in motion at one time, indicating the
intricacy and complexity of some of this work. Lytle goes into a lot of this
detail during his alternate narrative tracks. Heavy on the technical side and
effusively detailed, Lytle has a tendency to talk over the heads of the average
audience, hoping to mind meld with the techno-geek in the group. Still, he makes
enough sacrifices to science-speak so that anyone can get the gist of his
explanations.

Beyond the Walls, the short that started it all, is also offered
here. It's amazing how far Lytle and ANIMUSIC had come in just five years (the
original DVD release date was 2001, remember). Walls is weak in some of
its animation elements, and the song is not as instantly memorable as the other
material here. But the basics of what would make ANIMUSIC celebrated are here in
all their primitive components. A preview of the new ANIMUSIC-2 DVD is offered
and the sneak is spellbinding. Using a portion of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an
Exhibition for inspiration, the cathedral-set snippet is grand. But perhaps
the most amazing aspects of this DVD are the format basics of audio and video.
Both are absolutely reference quality. The Dolby Digital Stereo is good, but the
5.1 Surround is so immersive and ambient you'll instantly get lost in the sonic
sensation. Visually, the transfer is technically perfect, pushing the very
limits of the digital compression and space to provide a platform for the
stunning visuals. Images are crisp, colorful, and missing the obvious edge
enhancement one would expect from a computerized pen and ink title. The only
drawback is the 1.33:1 full screen framing. While widescreen would have been
brilliant (the "Pipe Dream" bonus proves that), this is about as good
as it gets.

As technology seems to increase exponentially on a daily basis, it's
important to note that it's not the medium at the artist's disposal, but rather
how well he or she takes advantage of it that will accentuate its viability as a
partner in the creative process. ANIMUSIC: A Computer Animation Video Album:
Special Edition shows what skill and vision can do with mere megabites and
hard drive space. As visually stunning as it is sonically sound, this spectacle
is brilliant, and breathtakingly beautiful.

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